Guild Wars 2

I was reticent at making a scholar character in the first place and it appears I may well not have bothered. I am not enjoying playing it.

Well, Im trying this elementalist but it is so utterly frustrating. I am at lvl 17 and cannot complete lvl 11 story missions, feel like I cannot deal damage nor take damage. I am using the best armour and weapons available at my level and cannot beat skill points 2-3 levels below mine. The character seems helpless and weaksauce in whatever situation I put it into.

I guess it is a ‘me’ problem, since others do well enough. Can anyone give me any advice before I give this character up altogether?

Elementalist can be very challenging. Can you give us some info about your current build, weapons, and play style/how you go about killing things? What are your utilities?

When I was first leveling my Elementalist, I mainly used Scepter/Dagger. Used 4 to create a fire field, then 2 and 3 to give might, followed by 5 to deal huge damage. Most things would die at that point. If they didn’t, I would switch to another element and spam any remaining damage skills. Circle strafeing is incredibly effective against most melee enemies in the game.

Some important things:
-Do you know what each skill does for your weapon set?
-Do you know of the self combos available to your weapon set?
-Are you staying in one attunement the entire time or switching?
-It may be helpful to run in soldier type gear (power/toughness/vitality) early on, if you’re having trouble surviving.
-Try to have more than 1 type of weapon set on you. For instance, I had S/D as well as Staff when leveling, now I carry D/D and Staff.

Elementalist is indeed a bit hard to get used to, but it is also one of the most fun classes in the game as well.

It’s not just you. Many young elementalists have this problem. In fact, there are many threads about this in the Players Helping Players and especially the Elementalist forums. Try searching those for terms like “early elementalist”, “baby elementalist”, and “low level elementalist” for even more tips!

The first problem is that all elementalist weapon sets play very differently. D/D and D/F are very much melee, while S/D and S/F allow you to keep some space between you and your enemy. Staff allows you the most space, but then there’s the problem of keeping your enemy in your AoE and not in your face.

Elementalists require very active defenses to keep alive. Learn which moves you can combo together to give yourself buffs and heals or to give your enemy conditions. The wiki is good for that. Additionally, learn what moves will allow you to control the mob outright. Using those to interrupt incoming damage is smart, as is immobilizing your enemy while you wait for Dragon’s Tooth or Meteor Shower to hit.

You also have to equip and choose skills with survivability in mind. The best utility for an elementalist at a low level is Glyph of Lesser Elementals. It summons something to facetank for you, so then you can focus more on attacking and less on evading. Mist Form is super great and even is a staple for some level 80 builds, and Arcane Shield can help you survive while you’re still learning what an elementalist does. Other good early utilities include Arcane Wave (for the combo finishers) as well as Glyph of Storms (fire storm is good damage).

Ping me in-game if you have any more questions. Elementalists are a “love ’em or hate ’em” kind of class, though, so maybe it’s just not for you. Necros and Mesmsers play very differently, though, so don’t discount them because the Ele doesn’t work for you.

Okay, I am lvl 17, using d/d or occasionally I try Sc/d. My equipment is all lvl 17, equipped for Precision, with a mix of pebbles for toughness, vit and power.

I generally fight in earth mode using Churning Earth, Earthquake, Ring of Earth, then Impale to keep the bleeds up. I use Fiery Greatsword and Arcane Blast as well.

My traits are currently 5 for toughness and 2 for vitality.

I tried to fight the veteran ember near the destroyed plant and I just had absolutely no chance of doing any damage to it. There, I swapped FG for lesser elemental of earth.

D/D is so much fun! My ele mained staff for most of her life but now is learning the art of short-ranged combat. Not very good yet, but here’s two good opening combos that I’ve learned so far that are pretty devastating at taking out melee mobs:

• Earth 3 (kinda buggy right now), Earth 4, Earth 2, Fire 3, roll back toward enemy, Fire 4, Fire 5, Fire 2 and circle strafe.
• Air 4, Air 5, Air 3 if needed for defense, Fire 3, Fire 4, Fire 5, Earth 4

One of the “love it or hate it” points about the elementalist is attunement dancing. Using all four attunements gives you access to a lot of things you need in battle: pure damage, heals, cc, defense.

Now even when an ele learns his or her skills better, they will still be super-squishy. I had trouble taking veterans on for a good long time, and I pretty much just went splat at the early levels in those situations.

I have been playing fire today and I like the combo of 3 to enemy, 4, VV away to fiery greatsword, and had some success with that. I still feel that my real level is something like 4-6 below what it claims to be.

Given that I am too thick to remember set combos, I think I will just nuke it from orbit and start a mesmer before I really lose my goat

Cheers for the advice!

Put arcane shield, mist form, and then glyph of lesser elementals as your utilities.

Summon the earth elemental, when you go to use churning activate arcane shield.

Churning earth is a strong attack, but you cant defend yourself during it, unless you use arcane shield. Using arcane shields lets you finish the churning relatively unmolested, then when you actually start using your other skills you can be dodging around enough to mitigate damage.

Two things for you. I’m pretty bad as an Ele, how I got to level 60+ is a mystery He has been in storage for ages but yesterday I spent the day reading up and looking at YouTube for inspiration.

This is a video of someone playing with a Dagger/Dagger Ele with a good build description. Near the end is a bit about how to use the skills which is good http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evJ507gkbdg&list=UUeY2qaLgQi25tMXmgVoeYxg&index=6

This is post in the Ele Forum here titles “Mastering the D/D Ele” https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-ele-11-25-12/first which as far as I can tell is pretty much the same build.

I am trying it now. It is very different to what I have tried before but it does make sense and at least I understand better how the Ele works. I suggest you take a look and maybe you will learn some stuff too.

Level 11 ele here, and i die a lot. What’s worse is, I don’t yet have a full grip on the game itself, let alone an elementalist. But I am having fun. I have learned that any form or rooting type spell is helpful, as are AoE’s. But I try to not deal with more than one mob at a time if I can help it.

Plus, there is always running away!

Elementalist is probably one of the hardest classes to play. You will need to be more mobile playing this class and switch attunments often to be most effective. Once you get more personal experience you will be more stable. Additionally, make sure your stats compliment your intended build. If you go to the elementalist section you might be able to find discussion on leveling builds and what stats/traits to use.

I would recommend using a Scepter/Dagger as you start off, using mostly Air element and then swapping the other elements. Air element gives you this lightning type stream that increases damage with each tick and gives a good medium distance between you and your enemy. Using 3 (Blinding Flash) at the right time will increase your chances of survival, for example you see a boss charging his skill, use Blinding Flash and his attack will miss you. Just play with your combos, you’ll learn
Oh and for the traits maybe 5 to 10 in Air so you can have some swiftness to help you move around more efficiently

I am a staff Elementalist. I have tried the D/D thing, but haven’t gotten very good at it. So I still staff in WvW even, though I’ll do S/F when asked to protect a wall or siege or something (stood on a wall one time with 2 other Elementalists taking turns when our cool downs were up and it was pretty effective).

What I did in PvE leveling up was to use, as my 7-9, passives. Yes, pretty lame, but effective. I still use them. I flip those 3 when I go to WvW for the usual suspects (many listed above) but still find the 3 passives I like (Signet’s of Earth/Water/Fire) to be my best friends. I’ll do a lot of flipping and pull in Earth with Eruption, flip to fire and give them a Flame Burst on the way in, drop a Lava Font when they stop, maybe stay there for another round, or flip to Water if I need some heals (drop a Spike and a Geyser), or in fire use my Burning Retreat.

If I get a few on me, then I circle strafe in fire while I’m not talking damage, double-tapping 2 to get a Lava Font on the ground they keep running through while I circle strafe, and Flame Burst when it’s up. The Water signet passive gives a condition cure every 10s, which is helpful, and again, something that just happens for you that you don’t have to think about while you are working on figuring other things out.

If I’m taking too much heat, I go water, double-tap 4 while moving to slow them down, drop a 2 and more importantly, starting using the Fire Signet’s active, which is a nice little bit of burning on a single target over 9s (and yes, I have lots of condition, for better or worse). The Earth signet gives a nice toughness passive, as well as a 3s stun.

I didn’t WvW until I was 80, so I wasn’t too worried about things like Mist Form, Armor of Earth, Lightning Flash, those types of things, until later. I just go those 3 passives (and Signet of Restoration for my heal, which gives you healing on any spell as the passive, though I favor the glyph these days for the speed buff in air).

So there’s a write up from a ‘horrible’ staff elementalists that has been pointed at and laughed at repeatedly. But I had a good time leveling up, and still enjoy it. My favorite character still (also playing a Ranger and Guardian).

I too have this problem. I find it comes down to the fact that elementalists lack a reliable summonable companion. The other light classes, necro and Mesmer are always summoning multiple allies to take the hits for you. Whereas ele only has the lesser elemental which just doesnt compare and has a huge respawn timer. Step it up to medium armours and you’ve got ranger who’s pet is simply amazing, my bear rarely died and kept me out of harms way 99% of the time.

I think I’ll stick to heavy classes as it is, who needs minions when you can actually take a hit and deal out damage that is pretty well on par with the other classes.

The environment itself will help you as an elementalist. Keeping high ground, staying out in the open areas, luring enemies with a pull into field traps… I have found all of these to be vital to my elementalist’s survival.

The rolling helps! Double-tap your D, A, or S buttons for a quick dodge. Roll forward, then roll back and leave a flame trail to get in a quick hit, then lure your enemy through a burning line that will extend their burning damage by several seconds. Cast while moving; the enemy can’t hit what it can’t catch. Some spells work best in concert with movement, and almost all damage spells can be cast while moving. The flame boomerang phoenix spell really requires you to move to make it really effective.

Do as much damage as you can before the enemy knows you are there. Hit with stuns, dazes or slow-movement spells from ambush if you can. Save defensive spells until the last possible moment to extend their usefulness.

Figure out the enemy’s weakness and exploit that. Learn the tells for when the enemy is going to strike and dodge, block or daze at this moment. For fast enemies, play it defensively, and lay down fields and traps. For slow enemies, use rapid-fire, long range spells for maximum condition damage.

Bring a friend or two or three. Elementalists work best in concert with other players since the elemental fields can add bonus damage to weapons. Figure out good combo moves with your party, such as adding fire damage to arrows, axes or bullets.

Bring along several weapon types to fit best into your party. If you are the primary damage dealer with daggers, make sure you have a tank to hold the enemy’s aggro before going in close (this is useful when you are with engineers, since most enemies will go for the turrets first, then the players).

Elementalists are really fun and can last a long time but you have to be dodgy and sneaky. Watch your energy levels closely. Don’t get into the middle of mobs – stay at the edges. Use other players as both cover and to increase their weapon damage on your behalf. Learn to switch between your elemental types quickly and memorize those number combo sequences.

Good luck!

My Ele is lvl 80 now and only has the Orr maps left for 100% world completion and I can say that he is pretty much on a parr with my Engi and Ranger. However here are the tips I would give:

1 – Go with armour that has “Toughness” base stats and add runes that also add “Toughness”.

2 – Equip skills to the bar that help to deal damage. My favourites are: Arcane Wave (AOE Critical Damage – can use every 30 secs), Arcane Power (next 5 attacks are critical damage, can use every 45 seconds – note seems bugged for fire element and only does 3 crit attacks) and Signet of Earth (I never activate it, just keep it for the extra toughness). Elite – Summon Elemental.

3 – I use staff so I will only advise you on that weapon. Use fire element to deal with mutiple foes. Even the basic attacks are AOE, pull a group of foes so they stand in the same spot or close together if you can. Use earth to deal with single enemies/Vets (basic attack weakens them) and also to deal with enemies that use projectiles. Use water for a boost in healing, stand close to enemy and use basic attack while waiting for the other 2 heal skills to refresh as the basic attack will heal you as well if you are close to the enemy. Air seems useless unless you are runing through enemies or need to run away in a hurry.

4 – Swap through those elements as needed! Some fights may require 3-4 swaps maybe more.

5 – Use the Earth Elemental for facing Vets and don’t forget to heal it.

Hmm that’s all I can think of for now, good luck!

Elementalist is very, very dependent upon traits to become durable.

Most experienced eles spec heavy into water and arcana, or water and earth with either a smattering of air, earth, or fire.

most eles run some variant of the D/D bunker build (0 or 10)/10/(0 or 10)/30/20 with primary focus on pow/tough/vitality (actual stat priority power, toughness, condition damage)

durability with scholar classes usually doesn’t become apparent to the player until about 30 or 40 when the traits really start to synergize. Until then take it easy and enjoy the ride.

If you want a durable scholar, thoguh mesmer is for you. They can live for freaking ever. If you spec them right they will be able to kill pretty much every champion in the game with minimal tanking stats .. they will take longer to do it though.

@OP:
Ele’s are very VERY versatile ( perhaps not as much as the engineer I guess ), and as many of the folks have mentioned above , Attunement Switching is something you will have to learn to love , otherwise not only will you mildly effective, but you will get bored very fast

Learn to switch to water as well, the Frost Armours, and Water 1 in D/D are effective for Chill and Stacking on Vulnerability.
Plus Water has heals which are often overlooked, but need to be applied as a part of your regular spell spamming

Get to grips with switching and various skills and you will really enjoy the kind of action you see in game.

Against Vets, kiting / circle strafing is a must as well

~TNE

I have a level 27 elementalist with scepter/dagger using fire spells, and so far everything has been very easy for me. The main thing is kiting in circle and keep dropping aoe on the ground for mobs with huge amount of health. They will keep chasing you and run right into them and eventually die. Use line of sight for range mobs. Works well for me.

My brain hurts I am too thick for combos.

I nuked it and made a Mesmer. I really do appreciate all the advice, but for a casual player like myself, I think the challenge is a little too much for my skritt brain.

I need to go lie down to recover

I played Dagger/Dagger until 80 and stayed in fire atunement. I didn’t have too many issues. For skill point challenges I used the hounds plus an elemental as a distraction while I did damage. Some people swear by the other elite skills but I found them to not be as helpful.

GuzziHero.2467:

My brain hurts I am too thick for combos.

I nuked it and made a Mesmer. I really do appreciate all the advice, but for a casual player like myself, I think the challenge is a little too much for my skritt brain.

I need to go lie down to recover

Good luck with that mesmer. I find that I enjoy my Ele more, but the ele does seem more fragile. I also find that mesmer has a reasonably steep learning curve. Of the three cloth classes, necro is imo by far the easiest to level and play.

Cheers! Seems to be going ok so far.

Necro, unfortunately, is the one class in this game I pretty much hate

I have some good concepts of player professions I would like to play, if there was any way of customising one ourselves. Ah well, I can dream…